The King of the Streets

[GeneChing]

I've been remiss in posting this as the distributor, Well Go USA, is advertising this with us now.

THE KING OF THE STREETS - Available Everywhere August 6

I haven't seen this yet.

[GeneChing]

KFM has been advertising this for months so I figured I better check it out. It wasn't bad. Some nice fights although not spectacular. Overly melodramatic in that sappy Chinese way - cheesy love story, redemption from a father that disowned him, helping whiny orphan kids. It's a showcase for Yue Song, who choreographs, directs and stars as the lead. He is of the Seagal/Keanu school of acting, total stoicism to show how cool you are (or just to cover your inability to act). The fights are slo-mo-ed, ramped up and freeze-framed with some sort of color treatment for emphasis. Yue's martial moves are simple mostly, trying to be all MMA with some arm bars and guillotine chokes, but mostly Muay Thai with the occasional wushu flair. He does pull off a few extended single shot sequences where he kicks the snot out of multiple pipe-wielding assailants, but it's mostly sidekicks in succession, and those scenes come totally undone if you turn your attention to the assailants not being kicked at the moment. They are lining up and swinging their pipe rather randomly, completely missing Yue as they swing at him from behind or way out of range. I enjoyed the look of the film, which was blanched out, chipped and cluttered, lit by spectrum draining neon, much like modern China is for real. And there is a sword fight, which is arrived at in such a silly manner that I almost stood up and applauded Yue's audacity (it's a very mediocre swordfight - he's better with blunt pipes).